In the week’s first session, the Australian sharemarket is trading flat as major banks and miners counterbalance each other, keeping the S&P/ASX 200 largely unchanged at 8092 points. The late rally in the S&P 500 on Friday, driven by resilient U.S. consumer data suggesting a slower pace of rate cuts, has lifted major Australian banks. Commonwealth Bank, NAB, ANZ, and Westpac are all up around 1%.

However, these gains are tempered by a decline in iron ore prices, now below $US100 per tonne, impacting heavyweights like BHP, Fortescue, and Rio Tinto, which are all slightly down. The drop in iron ore follows weak factory activity data from China, Australia’s key iron ore market.

Gold miners have also been hit hard, with Perseus Mining and Red 5 both falling over 5% due to a weekend dip in gold prices. REA Group has further dragged the index down, slipping 7% on news of a potential bid for UK-listed Rightmove, pulling the communications sector lower.

On the positive side, Downer EDI continues to lead the index, up 3.6% after reporting a strong $82 million annual profit. Conversely, Bellevue Gold’s shares are down 5.1%, despite posting its first full-year profit, weighed by the decline in gold prices.